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What exactly is Toshiba thinking? Not too long ago, the company lost the high-def battle, shutting down its HD DVD business. Sony's Blu-ray was declared the "winner," and everyone seemed to accept that standard DVD was on a slow, steady decline. What we didn't realize back in January was that Toshiba may have been down but it certainly wasn't out of the DVD mix. Yes, Toshiba's now in the deep end of the pool, dog-paddling like crazy with a brand-new DVD player technology, trying to prove that the DVD standard can stay afloat indefinitely.

Most people I've spoken to dismiss Toshiba's new XDE (eXtended Detail Enhancement) high-def technology as fakery and a minor speed bump in the road to Blu-ray disc and video download dominance. They're probably right.

On the other hand, these upscaling, image-enhancing hybrid players will, at $149, reportedly cost hundreds less than the current crop of Blu-ray players, and they promise to enhance the consumer's current DVD collection. According to Toshiba, the technology sharpens the contrast, improves colors, and will "breathe new life into your DVDs."

Suddenly, Toshiba is a very savvy (dare I say cunning?) company with a potential consumer electronics hit on its hands.

As I've mentioned before, Blu-ray players are still way too expensive, and Sony is still struggling to explain to consumers why it's a must-have technology. What's more, IP-based Video on Demand (VoD) is surging, thanks to set-top players from Roku and Apple and movie downloads via the Sony PS3 and the Microsoft Xbox 360. Consequently, VoD could become a relevant home DVD competitor in the next few years. And that's why Sony should be worried about Toshiba's latest DVD technology.

Consumers, on the whole not the most discerning bunch when it comes to quality, could very well be charmed by Toshiba's promises of 1080p images and enhanced color and image quality from their existing DVD collection. For consumers it's a win-win situation. They get high-def at a sub-$200 price that should look good on any real HDTV set, and they save even more money by not having to replace their DVD collection.Next: The X-factor >

A 25-year industry veteran and award-winning journalist, Lance Ulanoff is the former Editor in Chief of PCMag.com.
Lance Ulanoff has covered technology since PCs were the size of suitcases, ?on line? meant ?waiting? and CPU speeds were measured in single-digit megahertz. He?s traveled the globe to report on a vast array of consumer and business technology.
While a digital veteran, Lance spent his early years writing for newspapers and magazines. He?s been online since 1996 and ran Web sites for three national publications: HomePC, Windows Magazine...
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